Have to postpone the Creative Memories weekend due to very sad news in regard to my consultant's family. Her sister-in-law passed away Wednesday. Not a good time for celebrating with friends working on photo albums :(

Hopefully all will heal and be ready to get together February 11-13.

Beautiful niece Camille's baby daughter is due Feb. 13th so I hope she will wait until I get home to arrive (Camille, see what you can do to hold off on that delivery because, of course, it is all about me!)

Kristen got assigned a school/classroom for her student teaching that begins later this month. She will be in a 7-8th grade math class in the Peoria School District. She is going to be a great teacher for these kids because she believes 13-14 year-olds are people too :) I think she hopes to get a younger grade when she gets a job, but I will stake my 30 years experience on the fact that she will be great wherever she goes. Love you Kristen!

Next weekend I am going to my annual Creative Memories retreat in Flagstaff and as I was looking through my photos, choosing which ones to print from 2010, I decided on 568 pictures. This does not include Kevin and Kristen's over 200 wedding photos that I already have. I think I have my work cut out for me :)

Happy New Year!!! 2010 was a great year as we added a daughter-in-law to our family :)

Kevin and Kristen

Date Night December

I am so thankful that Lisa and Zach continue to date each other after 8 years of marriage. Not only is it good for them, but it is soooooo good for us :) We get to have Teda, Dane and Jett over for a few hours (we are actually up to about 24 hours). Here are some pictures of them eating dinner while watching tv, something they "don't do at home". We have to find fun things any way we can. They also get to "camp" on our floor on an air mattress and are of course welcome to climb up with us if/when they wake up in the night. Dane is a really heavy sleeper but Teda usually comes up every night. Once, while she was sleeping, I took her hand and held it for a really long time. When I mentioned it in the morning she said that she was trying to get away from holding my hand. She wasn't really because I remember that she was holding onto me too! Winter daylight hours are really hard on Jett. Here is a pic of him trying to stay awake just after dark at about 6:30pm.

Christmas Pictures 2010

December 2010

Ryan and Julee are 26 years old :)

This year we continued our old traditions and hopefully made some new ones. We got together Christmas Eve with the Cassidys and Christmas Day with the Hoffners as always. We exchanged gifts and of course ate too much :). Then on Sunday the 26th we had a family dinner with our kids at our house (hopefully a new tradition). Check out the picture of our new entertainment stand under the tv. It is soooo awesome!!! It really heats, and has different settings for a simmering fire or a blaze, with a remote control included!!! Thanks to David, Ryan, Julee, Kevin and Kristen - the best kids ever!

Another change, that I hope can become a tradition, was that we got together on December 11 at AhSo (a teppanyaki restaurant) ate a wonderful dinner, and then went to our house and opened presents. I love that we were ready by then and I love being able to spend time with the kids without the pressure of having to be somewhere else at the same time.

Today is our David's 28th birthday!! I am getting really sentimental about some of the memories I have of him. Being our perfect first-born, when he was 6 months old we decided this parenthood thing was so good we should have another :). Well it took a while and we really enjoyed him all by himself for a while.

One thing I remember him doing was always asking about things. I didn't really have to worry about him getting into trouble because if he came across something new he would ask what it was.

I remember him saying da with three different pronunciations; long a for david, short a for dad and shwa a for dog (our dog was named Dixie).

He said "MacMacDonalds Aunt Dawette (Charlotte)"

I have a tape somewhere with his voice at bedtime telling little brother Ryan about monsters on the floor of their bedroom! I would never have guessed this perfect little boy had that in him!!!

I remember him being Student of the Month in September when he was in Kindergarten.

I remember him winning the class spelling bee and going to Arizona Christian Schools to compete against other first graders, second graders, and third graders (I can't remember what year he didnt go and who beat him out). In first grade he went out on the word vane, or was it vein, or vain? Poor 6-year old :(

I remember senior year baseball when he said, "I just want to play baseball!" I was hurting so badly for him because he had been in a car accident and couldn't finish the soccer season and now because he was getting a C in honors English he was ineligible to finish the playoffs with his team and his brother. I am sure he learned something wonderful because I know God has a plan for everything, but I was really sad at the time.

Now he is this wonderful young man who has made his parents so proud of him.

God Bless you David!!! We love you very much!!!